In 2018, Google was fined by the European Union 4.3 billion euros for its anti-competitive practices with its search engine. This forced the company to offer users more options when configuring their Android smartphones.
Some companies have warned that the implemented system is still unfair, and the European Union has imposed new conditions on Google. In fact, European users will be provided with up to 12 search engines for their new smartphone.
Google has prevented charging for being in the search engine options menu on Android
The system that Google implemented after the EU fine included three pre-selected options in the sealed bidding process. It included, in addition to Google’s engine, Yahoo, Bing, and DuckDuckGo.
This practice has alerted other competitors to the unfairness that the process continues. It brought concerns to the European Union that Google is now being forced to implement a new system that is more fair and transparent.
As you can read on the official Google blog, the new system will not charge you to be in this list of options. Search engines will be able to apply for free, however, with some conditions.
Only public search engines will be allowed and they will need a dedicated app on the Play Store. The last point is important, because whatever drive you choose, your app will be automatically installed on your Android smartphone.
Once you choose your preferred search engine, it will start performing your searches on both Android and the browser of your choice. Even if you want to use Chrome but Bing as a search engine, the latter will be set as the main engine in the Google browser.
The new list of search engine options will start appearing for Android users from September 1st. Note that these changes will only apply to models sold in Europe and the UK.
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